Tennis, cucumber sandwiches on hold as COVID-19 comes to Kooyong

Illustration: Rod Clement

PM Scott Morrison likely checked with Josh Frydenberg on whether his Treasurer got in any tennis over the weekend at his beloved Kooyong club.

The Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club has after all been the latest elite institution hit with a COVID-19 case, an email to members late on Monday night warned.

No chicken and cucumber finger sandwiches for the time being for its members.

The unidentified infected player played on Friday at 2pm to 3pm and Saturday 9am to 10am, also visiting the clubhouse afterwards, although with the obligatory masked face.

Tennis was allowed back then under stage 3 lockdowns, but banned from this week when stage 4 kicked in.

Frydenberg, the member for Kooyong since 2010, has his name in gilt, being the 1996 club champion, but then unable to defend his title with a two-year stint at Oxford University.

Celebrated as the “spiritual home of Australian tennis”, the legendary club is led by president Peter Carew from Carew Counsel, the family law specialists.

The former home of the Australian Open — Margin Call spent summers selling Peters Dixie Cup ice creams in the 1970s — and Davis Cup ties, as well as its annual Classic, which was sponsored this year by renewable energy firm AgBioEn.

Kooyong’s iconic stadium has hosted the great names of tennis, from Brookes, Goolagong and Sedgma n to Cash, Newk, O’Connor and Agassi.

Kooyong has seen a recent clubhouse redevelopment that avoided its 26 manicured grass courts, 22 all-weather en tout bas courts and three Plexicushion courts.

It was financier William Baillieu who bought the 17 acres for £175 an acre, and let the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria (LTAV) buy it off him for the same price (£3080).

Essington Lewis, the legendary boss of industrial giant BHP, advised the club on the erection of a 5500-seat reinforced concrete stand in the mid-1920s.

Toorak toffs

Glyn, the 1908 Toorak home designed for the BHP founding shareholder Sir Edward Miller, has been listed for sale.

Marshall White agent Marcus Chiminello is seeking between $14m and $15.4m.

The cosy Arts and Crafts style home with gabled roofs, prominent eaves and artisan features, has six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a gym, billiards room and three studies.

The 2420 sqm Kooyong Road grounds have a tennis court and pool.

It last traded in 2016 when bought for $11m by Jacqueline Blackwell, the partner of JB Hi-Fi boss Richard Murray.

Sam Henderson back in court

The matter of the banned financial adviser Sam Henderson was back briefly in court yesterday.

ASIC has some unfinished business with the celebrity superannuation guru, who copped a three-year ban in 2019 following his appearance at the royal commission.

The corporate regulator further alleges he made false representations that he had a Master of Commerce degree.

He had the allegedly unearned degree certification on PowerPoint presentations for six years, on the Henderson Maxwell website, where he worked for four years, in brochures distributed for three years and also a 2011 information memorandum.

The offences of engaging in dishonest conduct can carry 10 years in jail.

Last year the corporate watchdog found Henderson had “failed to act in the best interests of his clients, provide appropriate advice and to prioritise his clients’ interests when providing personal financial advice”.

They said this led to clients either losing money or being at risk of losing money.

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions is prosecuting the matter at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.

Henderson has not yet entered a plea. The case will again be back before Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson August 18.

Out of the money?

The Qantas Share Purchase Plan (SPP) announced on June 25 closes today.

The $500m SPP was extended two weeks from its original July 22 deadline after the institutional placement got away at $3.65 a share.

The Qantas extension was to ensure retail shareholders had time to consider the impact of the then restrictions. Its spinmeisters suggested the emerging Victorian situation would not have a “materially adverse impact on the three-year recovery plan”.

But the Victorian lockdown has become more serious, and Qantas shares closed yesterday at $3.26 a share.

On June 25 the shares closed at $4.19. When the extension came on July 14 the shares were trading at $3.49.

With a day’s trade to come, the volume-weighted average price of shares during the lost recent five trading days sits at around $3.32, with a 2.5 per cent discount. So late Wednesday, barring huge gyrations, a likely $3.22 is the price for the offer.

That’s the choice for Qantas’s 90,000 shareholders with many being its devoted 29,000 staff members.

Around 8000 had been expected to have returned to work by the end of July, and 15,000 by year’s end, so given delays they are unlikely participants at any price.

The annual results are due August 20 from its chief executive Alan Joyce who ranks as the company’s 15th largest shareholder.

Palmer sent packing

He might have around 20 homes in Queensland, but the billionaire Clive Palmer is obviously keen to get to his Perth bolthole. He maintains a $4.6m home in Applecross, an affluent waterside suburb south of the Perth CBD.

The six-bedroom, 2006 built home with views over the Swan River was initially listed in 2010 with $7.95m hopes.

It is an ostentatious home featuring a number of grand chandeliers. Palmer secured the property through Mineralogy Pty Ltd.

Palmer wanted to head to Perth for business purposes but was initially refused entry because he failed to submit an exemption to cross the border. It Seems three application were submitted by his private jet pilot Carlo Filingeri, who listed his gender as female and that Palmer was his husband. In another form Filingeri listed his wife as Anna Palmer, Clive’s wife. The applications were not accepted as the WA police believed it was a hoax.

Palmer is fighting the hard border as being unconstitutional in the High Court.

Steady hands depart

Times are tough in the Australia-China debate in many ways.

And compounding the fractious relationship is the departure of two of Australia’s strongest conduits to China.

Helen Sawczak, the national chief executive of the Australia China Business Council, is stepping down after four years in the role.

The official word is the Melbourne-based Sawczak is refocusing her attention on her non-executive director roles, which makes sense given her heavy workload.

She sits on the boards of the listed seafood production company Clean Seas Seafood, the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies University of Melbourne and Monash’s Migration and Inclusion Centre.

In April she joined PR giant Newgate Communications as an advisory board member.

“It’s been a privilege helping so many Aussie companies achieve success in China as well as helping our educational, sporting and arts institutions with their China engagement,” Sawczak said.

“I hope more corporate leaders consider mentoring the next generation. They’re our only hope!”

The ACBC are now searching for a new chief executive.

And Sydney’s Michael Clifton, the former head of Austrade in China, has left China Matters after just seven months as their chief executive of the independent policy institute.

Clifton remains president of the Australia China Business Council NSW.